There has been a significant team shake-up ahead of ESL Pro League Season 19, with British Counter-Strike player Owen smooya Butterfield set to compete for the FORZE banner. This step caused a wave of criticism from the famous Ukrainian analyst petr1k, who pointed out that the title sponsor of the FORZE team is a Russian oil company.
The announcement came as a surprise to many fans and pundits given FORZE's recent difficulties maintaining a stable roster.
A British sniper responded to the criticism:
I will make this clear once, I am not representing this organisation. I’m not wearing their jersey. I’m attending ESL Pro League to hopefully show my ability to hopefully get scouted for a roster in the future. Not support any of this, so please shut the fuck up seriously
I understand it's a good chance for you to show your skill. First of all it's a mistake by TO's to even allow such teams compete and promote big russian oil company. It's frustrating to see u, the good guy, now in the team owned by a company which fuel russian tanks to kill us (
Community response has been mixed. Some fans are delighted by the potentially spectacular performances that smooya is known for, while others share petr1k's concerns about the rise of Russian teams in eSports.
Whether this collaboration will succeed or end in disaster remains one of the most intriguing questions of the season.
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